Tumbling apparatus for degreasers



Nov. 7, 1944.

W. D. PHILLIPS E TAL TUMBLING APPARATUS FOR DEGREASERS Original Filed Au5, 1940 contemplated in the prior art.

Patented Nov. 7, 1944' OFFICE immune APPARATUS FOR DEGREASERS Willard D.Phillips and Ralph ArVan Foss'cn, I I "Chicag'm-Ill. I I Qriginalapplication August, a, 1940, Serial N01" I 351,018. I Divided and thisapplication February 15, 1943, Serial No. 475,915 I 2 Claims. l 202-170)7 This invention is a division of my co-pending application Serial No.351',O18, filed August 3, 1940, and relates to a degreasing apparatusand particularly to a new and improved degreasing cabinet having certaininherent advantages not One of the objects of the invention is toprovidea degreasing cabinet with .a new and novel mechanical design wherein acabinet of comparatively small size and weight is arranged to include arelatively large vapor treating chamber adapted to handle large andheavy machinery.

The particular object of the invention is to provide awork containerarranged to facilitate lowering small metal parts into the vapor chamberand adapted to automatically tumble these parts coincidental to theremoval of the container from the vapor to prevent trapping liquidsolvent in any cups or cup shaped portions which might be included inthe parts being treated/ Referring now more particularly to the drawing:

The single figure is a side elevation sectional view of our degreasershowing one form of a removable support with a tumbling cylinderarranged to be inserted into and withdrawn from the vapor treatmentchamber as will later be explained.

l The method of operation of a vapor type degreasing apparatus is wellunderstood in the artand consists of lowering relatively cool metalparts into the vapor chamber to allow the heated hydro-carbon vapors tocondense on the surfaces of the metal and flush oils, greases, or otherimpurities from these metal surfaces into the vaporizing sump of thedegreasing apparatus.

Some difiiculty has arisen in the prior art when attempting to treatsmall stampings or drawn metal parts or other pieces having cup shapedportions or depressions by reason of the fact that the liquid condensatewould become trapped in the cup shaped portions and could not be removedfrom these surfaces until the parts had been removed from the vaporchamber and inverted into some other container.

This diificulty is overcome in. the present invention by providing atumbling cylinder arranged so that small metal parts may be introducedinto the vapor chamber and will undergo a tumbling action coincidentwith the removal of the parts from the chamber so that any liquidsolvent will be immediately discharged and will not be carried beyondthe upper limit of the vapor cabinet. To accomplish this an inclinedframework IOI is provided in the vapor chamber 16, and while thisframework I 01 is subject to numerous modifications of structure, it ispreferable to provide a pair of angle iron rails I02 being curved attheir lower ends to form a seat I03 and similarly curved at their upperends to form a seat I04. The rails I02 are rigidly connected by suitableangle irons I05, I06, I01 and I 08 to maintain proper spacing and togive rigidity to the structure including its support on the degreaser,thus facilitating the movement of the tumbling cylinder along the railsurface.

The "tumbling cylinder comprises a perforated drum III provided with endplates II2 including hub portions II 3 in which a handle H4 is mounted.The handle H4 is sufficiently long to extend above the upper surface ofthe vapor cabinet when the tumbling cylinde is at its lowermost positionso that the cylinder may be withdrawn by manual manipulation of thehandle. As the cylinder is withdrawn the outer surface of the drum IIIwill ride upwardly along the flanges II5 of the angle iron I02 and asthe cylinder reaches the upper seat I04,'each of the hub portions I I3will come to rest in the notches I I6 formed in supporting bars l I!secured to the angle iron rolls II6 by a plurality of rivets I I8. Froman examination of the drawing illustrated in the figure it will be seenthat the comparative dimensions of the tumbling cylinder of the inclinedrails are such that as the cylinder rolls upwardly along the rails itwill be inverted twice so that any liquid solvent which may be trappedin cup shaped portions of metal parts will be discharged before thecylinder comes into position at the seat I04.

The operator may open the loading door I2I and then manually invert thecylinder to discharge the parts contained therein into any convenientreceptacle, as for example the tray I22. The cylinder I II is then againloaded and rolled down the inclined rails II5 to begin the nextsubsequent operation. It is to be understood, of course, that thetumbling cylinder and rails illustrated in the figure is removable fromthe vapor chamber when it is desired to treat large castings, etc., andit should be further pointed out that this tumbling cylinder with itsremovable rail supports may be applied to any suitable degreaser. Itwill be understood that many modifications in structure are possible andwe do not desire to be limited to the structure shown eX- cept as suchlimitations are imposed by the claims,

Having thus shown and described our invention, we claim: t

1. In a portable degreasing apparatus, comprising a chest having acondenser mounted adjacent its inner rim, a vapor generator in thebottom, and a vapor treating chamber between the generator andcondenser; the combination with a tumbiing appa atus cdfipTiS'ifig'frame consisting of a pair o'f'spaced apart rails inter connected bycross beams and adapted to be positioned at an incline within the vaporchamber with the lower end below the vapor level; a tumbling basketconsisting of a foramihat'ed' cylinder, a handle mounted onsaid'cylindrica-l has-=- ket, the arrangement being such that thecylindrical basket may roll down the inclined rails to enter thedegreasing vapor charn beraridroll' upwardly along said rails as thecylindrical lu isket is removed from the vapo chamber to efiect repeatedtumbling of the contents of said basket; v

2:111 a portable degreasing v apparatus, comaseaus br; a tumbling basketconsisting of a foraminated cylinder including a door in the cylindricalsurface and having a handle pivotally mounted on the axis of saidcylindrical basket, the arrarigement being such that the cylindricalbasket may roll down the inclined rails to enter thedegreas'ingwaporchamber and roll upwardly along said rails as thecylindrical basket is removed from the vapor chamber to effect repeatedtum- 2' bli'r'i'g of 'tli'e contents of said basket.

WILLARD D. PHILLIPS. RALPH A. VAN FOSSEN.

